Vista’s Oyster Bar introduces Tuesday student discount night on fine seaside cuisine
Tucked in between Flying Saucer and Uncle Louie’s on Park Street in the Vista, Columbia’s Oyster Bar beckons local regulars and new customers with open doors.
The air is laden with a heady brew of freshly shelled, shucked seafood, and a plethora of tangy spices tantalize the nose. We may be over an hour from the nearest coastline, but The Oyster Bar proves you don’t have to leave Columbia for fresh, delicious seafood.
Boasting a tremendous selection of raw bar selections in a casual dining atmosphere, The Oyster Bar has become a hot spot for Columbia regulars and those newcomers on the hunt for a quick seafood fix. But now, the restaurant will reach out to a new host of potential repeat customers: USC students.
Starting this Tuesday, the Oyster Bar will begin hosting weekly “Student Nights,” where diners can get special half-off deals on oysters with their student IDs.
Regularly priced at $6.50 for six or $11.50 for 12 raw oysters and $11.50 to $21.00 for steamed pecks, the raw bar’s oysters have become well known for their fresh-from-the-coast flavor as well as the award-winning “Mother Shucker’s” cocktail sauce served on the side. The half-off special will also apply to the bar’s $7.50 oyster shooters.
These unique shots are served exactly as they sound, taken straight from the oyster shell with chilled Absolut Peppar or Bacardi Limon tangoing with a dash of Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix and Tabasco sauce that provides a little extra kick. The restaurant hopes that by offering half-priced menu items on Tuesday nights, they will attract more students to the Oyster Bar way.
“The Bar wanted to start a student night because they wanted to bring in more students,” said fourth-year public relations student and Oyster Bar employee Christina O’Handley. “We hope that more students will come and check out all the types of seafood that the Oyster Bar has to offer.”
And for those looking for another type of seafood journey, the restaurant also offers steamed shrimp and scallops by the pound at prices ranging from $10 to $22.
There’s even an impressive range of optional seasonings to top off your shrimp and scallops, ranging from old favorites like Old Bay and lemon pepper to Cajun and Jerk flavors that pack a little bit more of a punch.
Of course, there are traditional coastal favorites like Cajun-style crawfish at $6 per pound, $7 shrimp and grits and seafood gumbo priced at $4 for the cup or $5.75 for the bowl. The Oyster Bar itself even has a few special dishes on tap, including the “Beaufort Basket,” served steaming hot and spicy with crawfish, sausage, cob corn, shrimp and potatoes for $16, or the famous “Capital City Oysters” served steamed and smothered with garlic alfredo sauce and capped off with bacon and cheddar at $8.50 for the half-dozen.
The inside of the Oyster Bar would certainly not be out of place in a more seaside setting. While there is a full dining room available, the raw bar is clearly the restaurant’s centerpiece. A full bar is available at the front of the restaurant, but a double-sided raw bar stretching into the very back of the building is only a short walk away.
Stools line up neatly underneath the counter, and every kind of seafood topper is on hand for those digging into an array of oysters, shrimp and scallops. Low-country artwork lines the walls, where palm trees and creekside fishing are all a part of the local scenery. It is this laid-back atmosphere that consistently draws in a mix of almost every type of customer.
“The crowd here is a real mix of different people,” said O’Handley. “It ranges from families to young professionals.”
The Oyster Bar opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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